Douglaston women’s shelter will be first in Queens Community District 11
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A 75-bed shelter will open in Douglaston in later 2021, the city informed elected leaders last week. Photo via Google Maps
By David Brand
A 75-bed shelter for homeless women will open in Douglaston in late 2021, becoming the first such facility in Queens Community District 11, according to city officials and elected leaders.
Though more than 4,500 single adult women stayed in a Department of Homeless Services shelter on Dec. 27, no such site exists in Queens Community District 11. The new shelter at 243-02 Northern Blvd. will house women 50 and older and will be operated by the agency Samaritan Village.
“Today, there are no shelters in this community district, which means there is no way to offer shelter services and supports in this community to New Yorkers from this community who may experience homelessness,” said DHS spokesperson Neha Sharma in a statement.
With the city mired in a years-long homelessness crisis, 53,534 New Yorkers slept in a DHS-run shelter on Dec. 27, according to the city’s most recent daily census report. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Social Services Commissioner Steve Banks have sought to distribute shelters throughout the five boroughs, rather than concentrate the facilities in areas that have a disproportionate number of such sites, particularly low-income communities of color. Those efforts have been consistently challenged by local residents, particularly in areas with few or even zero shelters.
DHS said it will prioritize women from the district or Queens more broadly for placement in the Douglaston shelter. The agency tracks the number of shelter residents by community district based on their most recent home address. The agency did not immediately provide an updated community district breakdown.
A Nov. 30, 2019 breakdown shared with the Eagle earlier this year shows that 30 individuals in DHS shelters listed a most recent address in Queens CD 11.
Local State Sen. John Liu, Assemblymember Ed Braunstein and Councilmember Paul Vallone said they were informed of the planned shelter on Dec. 23 and were “disappointed” about what they called a lack of community engagement by the city.
“In the coming months, an open dialogue and our continued coordination will ensure that DHS listens and properly responds to any and all of the community's needs and concerns during all stages of the process,” the three lawmakers wrote in a joint statement.
In a letter to Vallone dated Dec. 22, DHS officials described the shelter proposal. The letter was published by Queens Patch Tuesday.
DHS officials said the shelter will prioritize women from Queens and provide on-site case management, counseling and medical services. Residents will also receive housing placement and employment support, DHS said.
The shelter will be located across from Udall’s Cove Preserve.
